In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Reverend Dimmesdale as a man who cowardly strays away from the truth and, consequently, cannot manage the shame that he has brought upon himself. In a state of vulnerability, Dimmesdale has an affair with Hester Prynne, who then bores his child out of wedlock. In the eyes of this puritanical community, Hester has sinned against God. To punish her, the heads of the town force her to wear a scarlet “A” for adulteress. She must stand upon a scaffold, a raised wooden platform that is used for public executions, in front of the whole town. While Hester is punished for her sin, Dimmesdale is too apprehensive to admit to his sin and receive his punishment. Because he does not admit or accept his …show more content…
Dimmesdale decides to confess his sin for this is his last chance to reconcile with God before he dies. Hawthorne describes, “it was as if an angel, in his passage to the skies, had shaken his bright wings over the people for an instant,--at once a shadow and a splendor,--and had shed down a shower of golden truths upon them.”(222). Hawthorne uses this passage to display that Dimmesdale has finally told the truth to the community around him, which brings him closer to God and relieves him of the torturous life he was living. Reverend Dimmesdale’s spirit is transitioned as his confession is allowing him to become more open. In public display, he draws Hester and Pearl to come up on the scaffold with him” “‘Hester, said he, ‘come hither! Come, my little Pearl!’ . . . there was something at once tender and strangely triumphant in it” (225). The reverend has acknowledged his sin and, therefore, has overcome its shameful power. The triumph comes in the fulfillment of spiritual strength that he has been lacking since the original weight of the sin. By his self-acceptance and confession of his deceitful act, he has now grown closer to